Better Than A Genie

People are fascinated at the prospect of finding gold, finding a hidden treasure, or finding a genie in a bottle. We feel that if we just had “something” or “someone” to give us whatever we needed, our lives would be great. We all seem to have this desire within us.

If someone who had limitless resources and ability to fulfill your request, asked you to make one request for them to grant, what would you ask for? Would your request be for limitless wealth? If so, what do you think you would do with that wealth, and what changes would you have to make in your lifestyle to protect that wealth?

Would your request be for good health? Perhaps if one had continual good health they could live long enough to gain whatever they desire. Or would your request be for eternal life so that you would live forever and never die? What changes would come to your life if you knew that you would live forever?

Would you request awesome power or fame, in order to be able to change the world to your liking? How much power would be enough? What kind of power would be needed? Would your request be for political power, physical power, intellectual power, or supernatural powers?

Perhaps your request would be for someone to love, and/or someone to love you. That is a wonderful request indeed. We all desire to be loved, and to have someone who appreciates our love for him or her.

Many centuries ago, a new king named Solomon was ascending the throne in Israel. David had been a great king for Israel, had consolidated the kingdom, and had made it a fairly stable entity. David desired to build a temple for God, to whom he gave all credit for the blessings and successes of his life. God told David that it would not be his task to build the temple, but rather that Solomon his son would be given that task. So David collected many resources that would help make the building project possible. Soon after Solomon became king, David died.

God came to Solomon, and asked Solomon what one thing God should do for Him (cf. 2 Chronicles 1:7). In essence God was saying, “Solomon, I am giving you one wish. What do you want me to give to you?” Solomon basically responded: “Give me wisdom and knowledge, so that I may be a good responsible leader of Your people.” God responded by telling Solomon that because He requested wisdom and knowledge in order to be a good leader, instead of asking for wealth or fame, God would give him the wisdom and knowledge he had asked for, as well as riches, wealth, and honor as a bonus (cf. 2 Chronicles 1:10-12).

There is a saying that ‘knowledge is power.’ Knowledge as power can be used for building up or tearing down, for doing good or evil, for strengthening or weakening. Knowledge is obtained information; wisdom is the ability to use knowledge wisely. Information obtained, without an accompanying maturity and ability to use it in a balanced way for the good of all involved, is dangerous.

Wisdom is doing what God says to do, when God says to do it, how God says to do it, and in the manner or way in which God says to do it. Thus, wisdom is the use of knowledge under God’s direction. It involves not only what we do, but also our motive for doing it, the timing in which we do it, and the manner in which we do it. Doing the right thing in the wrong way, or with the wrong motive, or at the wrong time is not wisdom. All four elements are necessary for the use of knowledge to become wisdom. Many people do the right thing, but at the wrong time. Others do the wrong thing at the right time. Some do the right thing at the right time, but in a destructive way. Wisdom requires all four elements if something is to be done wisely. Wisdom requires godly correctness in what is done, when it is done, why it is done, and how it is done.

James 1:5 states that if anyone requires wisdom, they should ask God to give them wisdom and He will give it to them. May wisdom be at the top of your list of things to request from God!

Life's TradeOffs

Most situations in life involve a trade-off. What do I mean by that? Well, if you want to have a car you have to work to pay for it, to maintain it, to pay for insurance, and to pay for gas. So with the benefits of a car come responsibilities and expenses. Somebody might say, “I don’t want to spend my days working in order to have a car that eats my money.” That is an option, but then one needs to adjust his/her lifestyle to get to work without a car, get groceries without a car, etc. Life is full of trade offs. In order to have one thing, you must also embrace the side-affects.

Medications come with side-affects. You can take the medicine and endure the side-affects, or you can refuse the medicine because of the side-affects and remain sick. Some people want an environmentally friendly world, but also want the ease of life that comes from ignoring the environment. Some want a vibrant economy for a community, but don’t want the side-effects of having industry and good paying jobs in that community. You can’t always have one without the other.

In thinking of this concept, my thoughts turned to Proverbs 14:4 (NLB) that states: “Without oxen a stable stays clean, but you need a strong ox for a large harvest.” If keeping the stable clean is more important than feeding your family, that goal can be achieved. However if you want a great harvest to provide for your family and others, then you have to put up with some manure on the floor of the stable.

Most people want economic prosperity, but many do not want the unpleasant side-affects that accompany it. People want a great harvest without oxen, because oxen will eventually leave a mess on the stable floor and then we have to keep cleaning up after them. So the easiest thing (not necessarily the best thing) to do is just not to have any oxen in the stable. Then we won’t have to worry about keeping the stable clean.

This principle applies in many areas of life. We do not live in a perfect world, and everything we engage in that is positive also has some negative aspect to it. We like our area because it is a great place for families to live, but without good career opportunities our families move away. Good jobs are needed, but their presence makes it hard to keep the stable clean. So it is a trade-off. We might be fortunate enough to be able to choose a state-of-the-art ox that doesn’t give off much waste, but we must have the oxen if we are to survive.

Some people don’t like being single, but don’t want to adapt to share life with a husband or wife either. Some married couples really enjoy their mobility and freedom. They long for children but don’t want to give up their freedom to travel and play whenever they want. With children come responsibilities, a more complicated life, a need to enlarge the infrastructure (house), and income to provide for them. People with children also experience toys continually scattered on the floor.

The trade off, however, is the joy of watching your children grow, develop, ask cute questions, give interesting explanations, fall in love, get married, and carry on the things that you taught them were important in life. You can’t have kids without all the things that go along with them. But you also can’t have the joy of kids without the complications involved in caring for them. In the end, they are worth all the investment and added inconveniences that accompany them.

Life brings change. Someone has said that the most ordered and changeless place is a cemetery. To be alive requires continual change, and change requires trade-offs. If we want the benefits of a family, we have to put up with dirty diapers and messy floors. If we want the benefits of a college education, we have to study and learn. If we want friends, we have to invest time with them. If we want the benefits of a growing community, we have to put up with the trade off’s that come with having economic engines in our stables. If we want a relationship with God, we have to commit ourselves to spend time with Him and let Him shape our lives. Life is full of trade-offs. The question is, “Are we willing to make the trade in order to gain the benefits we desire?”

Passing Through The Valley of Tears to Our Destination

Have you experienced grief, or deep disappointment? Have you been hurt, or gotten so discouraged about something that you wanted to quit? Then today’s article is relevant to you. The psalmist is writing about people making a journey through an arid land, trekking by foot up the mountains and across long valleys on their way to encounter God.

All of us are on a journey called life. While we journey on earth, we all experience times of affliction, difficulties, distress, or valleys of tears. Psalm 84:5-7 gives us some practical ways to pass through the Valley of Tears.

In verse 5 we learned that the first step in passing through the Valley of Tears is to realize that suffering happens at some point to everyone. It may be because we did something to cause it, or it may be that we just encountered the byproduct of someone else’s wrongdoing or evil. Either way, it hurts.

When we encounter difficulties, we need to remember that God is with us, and that He is our strength. We need to let God be all the strength we need to face the grief, the loss, the pain, or the discouragement. We need to do this because our strength fails, but God’s never does. Our strength gives out, but God’s is everlasting. Our strength is always inadequate, while God’s strength is always adequate. When you are facing suffering, let God be your strength to carry on.

In verse 5, the psalmist now adds another helpful step to successfully pass through the Valley of Tears. He says that it is important that the highway to God be in our hearts. This phrase is difficult to translate. It can mean that the path or road to God is in our hearts. It can also be referring to the pilgrim journey, which poetically would mean that the passion to journey and arrive in the presence of God is what should fill our hearts.

The practical application of this is that keeping our goal and our destination always in the forefront of our minds and hearts can keep us going when the going gets tough. When I was in high school I tried out for varsity basketball. The tryout instructions were simple. We all went down to the outdoor track and were told that the first thirteen people to cross the finish line, after running two miles, were on the team. This was a shock to most of us. Unfortunately, some players the coach wanted on the team were told this information in time to train for this two mile run. Others, like myself, would just have to want it bad enough to be in the top 13 finishers.

I ran until my lungs burned and my legs cramped. Then I ran some more. I was determined to be on the team, especially since the race was fixed by some being given prior notification. On the last lap I kept my eye on the finish line. I ran when I had no more energy to run. I finished number 9.

Jesus endured the suffering of the cross, because He kept His eye on the end result that He came to accomplish (cf. Hebrews 12:2). He went through the suffering and finished dying for us, so that all who would place their faith in Him could have eternal life. He could go through anything in order to make it possible for us to be restored to a proper relationship with God and live with God forever.

You and I can endure the Valley of Tears by keeping our eye on the goal and our finishing line. One day as we cross the finish line we will hear the heavenly crowds cheering, and Jesus saying, “Well done, you good and faithful servant.” It will be worth it all, when we cross the finish line and see Jesus, never to suffer again.

The next crucial step is to realize that we are only passing through the Valley of Tears. The word “through” is one of my favorite words in the Bible. It means that although Christians enter something (like the Valley of Tears, or the Valley of the Shadow of Death), we do not remain in the valley. “Through” means that although we do indeed enter and experience the adversity, we most assuredly will come out the other side! “Through” means that this thing that has brought us to tears, will pass. We are going to come out the other side of it because God is with us, and God always comes out the other side of any obstacle or adversity. Travel on!

Reclaiming the Valley of Tears For Others

Whenever we find ourselves in the Valley of Tears, Psalm 84:5-7 gives us some helpful advice for traversing the difficulties we find besetting our lives. Our loss may be the loss of a relationship, our job, our health, or that in which we have placed our security. Regardless of the nature of our difficulties, God has given us sound advice for getting through them.

In Psalm 84:6 we are encouraged to reclaim the valley for future travelers. When we find ourselves in a difficult life situation, we need to not let that painful experience be wasted. It is important that there be a purpose to be accomplished as a result of our experience. We need to gain something from it, and then pass on what we have gained to others who will find themselves in a similar situation.

Psalm 84:6 (NASB) reads, “…while passing through the valley of Baca (tears), they make it a spring.” While we are passing through the valleys, we need to turn our tears into springs that can nourish others who will make a similar journey after us. Our tears become a part of the springs that will give nourishment to others.

For the Old Testament Patriarchs, springs were places where one encountered God. We need to turn our deep valley experiences into places where we encounter God. In your valley experience, look for God, learn about God, and learn from God. Discover what God is doing in the experience, and what you can learn in this experience about God, about yourself, or about life. Discover what you are gaining from this that can become a source of strength for others in a similar situation.

Springs were not only places to encounter God, but they were also places to receive God’s renewing power. After days of a wearying journey, fresh water from a spring would refresh the body, the spirit and one’s outlook. When we encounter God, and gain renewing strength from that encounter, we gain new energy to continue the journey.

The psalmist continues that those traveling the valley of tears go from strength to strength. I paraphrase that to mean that we need to walk with God instead of running ahead of the supply wagons. When we find ourselves in a painful situation, what is our main desire? It is to get out of the situation as quickly as possible! None of us like to suffer. We don’t like the uncertainty of the valley. We try to run away from the situation as quickly as we can, instead of walking with God through the situation.

When a person leaves the supply wagon to try to get out of the desert as quickly as possible, he or she is heading for worse trouble. This is why it is so important for us to walk with God, journeying from strength to strength. As God gives us strength to go on, then journey on. As we use the strength God supplies, He will give us new strength to continue the journey until we come out of the valley. Remember that verse six states that we are traveling through the valley of tears, which means if we continue to walk with God, we will come out of the valley.

As we journey through the valley, we need to rejoice, knowing that one day we will exit from the valley. So be confident that God is working in you and in this situation. Something important is being accomplished. Be joyful that the outcome of this valley experience will bring strength to you and to others.

By way of summarizing this series of articles, when we pass through the Valley of Tears we should: 1) Remember that even a blessed person suffers. 2) Rely upon the Lord to be our strength to make the journey. 3) Keep your heart on heaven, and heaven in our hearts, i.e. commit yourself to take the high moral way rather than giving in to low ways such as bitterness, hatred or retribution. 4) Continually remind yourself that you are passing through and will come out the other side. 5) Don’t waste the experience; use it to help those who will experience similar valleys. 6) Don’t run ahead of God, or away from the pain. Face the pain with the strength God gives to you. 7) Rejoice that one day you will indeed emerge from the Valley of Tears, and arrive to live with God in a place where there are no more tears, no more sorrows, only joy evermore! May God empower you on your journey!

The Power of Spoken Words

I remember in my childhood days that children were encouraged to brush off harsh words spoken about them by others. We were taught the little childhood slogan: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” However in modern times those who work in psychology discover that myriads of people are the walking wounded who have been deeply wounded by hurtful or destructive words spoken to or about them. The people whose word’s hurt them the deepest are often the people who claim to love them.

I recently read that “Words are just words. They mean nothing unless you allow them to.” This sounds like sound advice, if one is being beat up emotionally by people who are continually berating him or her. To some degree, we do have some control over how much we let the words of others affect us. The question is, to what degree can we prevent words from hurting us, and at what cost?

In a sense the words of others cannot hurt us unless we allow them to hurt us, right? Perhaps. Yet one’s ability to not internalize hurtful words depends upon one’s maturity, one’s strength of self-concept, one’s ability to forgive others, and how resilient and/or resistant one’s sensitivities are to demeaning attacks.

Even the strongest person can often be caused to break under a constant bombardment of harsh words spoken with the intent to wound that person in the depths of his or her being. Some people respond to harsh words by becoming calloused and insensitive to others, which becomes a defense mechanism to try to prevent them from ever being hurt again. Other people who have been wounded by words become bitter and harsh towards others, driving others away by being unpleasant, and being unwilling to open themselves up again in relationships, lest they be vulnerable to be hurt again.

Political pundits put out a daily barrage of hurtful accusations against their opponents, until the public hears something so often that they begin to believe that frequent message, rather than believing the concrete character or performance of the one being attacked. Similarly children, who are told often enough that they will never amount to anything, begin to believe those words and allow those messages to shape their self-identity and destiny. Words do hurt, and they do cause destruction. Words do have power.

Of course, the Bible expressed this truth centuries ago. Words can pierce and wound like a sword being thrust into a person, or they can be used to heal and strengthen a person. Listen to the words of Proverbs 12:18 (NAS):

“There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”

When we have been wounded by words we often need to experience healing through continually hearing kind and encouraging words spoken about us by a wise and trusted person. The words that decimated our self-image or self-worth need to be countermanded by words that speak of our worth and value to God. We need healing words to counter the hurtful words; we need words of blessing to counter the words of cursing; we need the truth of the Creator to counter the lies of the destroyer; we need wise words to cancel out the foolish words that have been drilled into us.

Unfortunately all of us at some time or other have been a dispenser of sword-like stabbing words, words meant to pierce and hurt another person. But I wonder how many of us have consciously chosen to be healers of the wounded and to use wise words to bring healing to others? You have control over the power of your words. You can use your words to encourage a person to be more than they dream possible, or you can use words to discourage them so they never try to do anything. With your words you can knock the wind out of a person, or you can breath fresh air into them.

Anyone can hurt another person with their words, but it takes a wise and mature people to be able to heal others with their words. Why not make a difference in your children, in your mate, in your family, in your school, in your church, in your neighborhood, and in your community, by purposely speaking words that will bring encouragement and healing to others? Let’s work on developing a personal mindset of using our words to speak life into people, instead of using our words to take the life out of them.